New Bonds
by Fictional Quacker
Summary: Ace and Marco have always gotten along well, but Marco is getting tired of just being the supportive best friend while Ace runs around with one woman after the other and, litterly, takes the matter in his own hands. In short it's M rated for: AceXMarco, lemon, mature language and some violence. Clearly this also contains different sexualities, which I considder natrual. Thank you!
1. Mystery Hangover

**Here's some short info before the story! (Skip it if you'd like, I just think it feels important to write these.)**

**This will be a rather long story compared to what I'm used to writing, so I apologise in advance if it's a bit slow.  
Futhermore it's rated M because there will be lemon, homosexual and homoerotic parts, adult language and violent content. **

**The main pairing is Ace x Marco, the story will be about them and ofcourse the Whitebeard Pirates. There will also be a couple of OCs, but none of them have any main roles. In fact, most do not even have names.  
If you don't have any problems with any of that, then please enjoy!**

**On a side note I'm not completely confident about my impression of Marco as a character yet, and I'd really apprechiate any comments on the things I can improve. Thank you for reading! **

* * *

Oh, Yes! The second division of the Whitebeard Pirates cheered victoriously as the captain of the Marine battleship finally fell face first onto the deck, defeated after a fair amount of epic battle which if of any importance in the story would take up atleast two chapters of manga-styled pure action, drama and romance - enough to make even the veteran otakus, those with tons of experience in getting their feels crushed, to tears.

But no, it's not important.

The cheering pirates then proceeded to make their way back onto their own ship a couple of hundred meters away, led by their infamous commander - the 'Firefist' Portgas D Ace.

"Mission accomplished, now let us head back to the Moby Dick and pops!" Ace laughed, his voice hoarse from exhaustion.

After getting back onto their borrowed ship the pirates spent many hours feasting, singing, failing miserably to fight off their thick-skinned doctors and nursers and finally sleeping whilst the navigator set the course for the nearby island where the rest of the Whitebeard pirates had made port.

It took two days to get to the island - a small, rather peaceful place (for being in the New World) which ofcourse had been made Whitebeard terretory a long time ago. Once there they cleaned and returned the ship to it's owner, the wealthy mayor, before going aboard the main ship to greet their nakama.

"Welcome back, son. I see the mission went well as always." Edward Newgate said to Ace, as always with a huge cup of sake in his hand and igonoring his dedicated nurses' attempts to make him put it down.  
"Hey pops." Ace smiled brightly. It felt nice and safe to be home, it always did.

Ace was taking a walk around the ship as usual before dinner. He's not sure when, but it became a habit of his at some point after finally agreing to join the Whitebeards crew. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was not only relaxing, but it also meant he'd run into Marco - his best friend.

Apperently, Marco had had the same walking habit for years before they even met.

"Welcome home, mate." Marco smiled and raised his hand at him when they crossed paths at the usual spot.  
"Good to be back." Ace grinned. "Missed me much?"  
"As always, every fucking minute."

They finished their stroll togheter and finally went in the large dining room where the chefs served the incredible amounts of delicious food that was their dinner.

Man, he had only been away for less than a week but had Ace missed being with his crew/family.

* * *

The next morning, or well, accually it was not until rather late in the afternoon, Ace woke up after a long, satisfying sleep to a nasty hangover.

Wait, a hangover?

He sat up in his bunk and rubbed his face with his hand as he focused on remembering. He was sure he hadn't had much to drink, and even if he had he never got sick from it. Although he recalled that some of the other men from his division had shared a barrel of sake.

_'Maybe Marco drugged me to get me to sleep.' _He thought ironically to himself, amused over how the phoenix-man always started acting like a mother goose whenever he had a bit of boose in his system. A pretty messy, possibly psychopatic mother goose considdering his methods of 'parenting', but none the less.

Someone opened the door to the room.  
"Good mornin' commander. The ol' man want'cha to get up. We're leavin' tomorrow so if yah you need to get anythin' done before then yah gunna have get to it, sir." The buff, tanned member of the fourth division said with a big friendly smile.  
"Thanks. I don't recognise your accent, where are you from?" Ace asked while climbing down the ladder from his bunk to get to his closet where he stored all his stuff.  
"I get that a lot" The man laughed. "South Blue. A tiny lil island called Houshi. It's mostly just farmers and chicken comin' from there so ain't nobody heard of us anywhere."  
"I see." Ace smiled, wondering if anyone had ever heard much about his home anywhere. He changed into his usual pants, for once he had accually bothered putting on the pyjamas ones he got for his birthday about a year ago.

He stepped out of the room and quickly made his way through the corridors to the upper decks and went outside.

"Holy shit." The sun penetrated his sore, hungover eyes and his head pulsated even worse.

"G'morning, yoi."  
Ace turned around to face the pineapple headed bastard.

"Marco you asshole." Ace greeted him.  
"Well aren't you in a shitty mood today. Woke up on the floor again?" Marco yawned, but Ace could tell he was amused. He knew Marco better then to fall for his cool-guy attitude.  
"No, but for some unknown reason I've got a hangover."

Marco accually looked suprised, which kind of threw Ace off-guard in return.

"What? You hungover? You've gotta be joking, yoi."  
"That's exactly what I thought when I woke up. I can't even remember what happened after dinner. We didn't drink anything more then usual did we?" Ace scratched his head, messing up his hair beond his already full-blown bed-head. Marco raised his eyebrows.  
"Ace, yoi, you're starting to worry me here. You really don't remember anything?"  
"No..."  
"We'll talk about it later, it's one hell of a story. But right now I'm supposted to be helping out with the heavy cargo, the chefs bought some big ass freezer or something and I promised I'd give them a hand. See you later, yoi." Marco said and before Ace could object he had already started walking away.

Ace scratched his head again. His stomach rumbeled loudly as the hunger hit him. He figured that since they were leaving tomorrow morning he might aswell spend the last night in the village.

* * *

"If you loose you nerve, this breath could be your last, but if you just hold on the morning sun will rise. Yohohoho, yohohoho~!" The small inn was packed with both locals and pirates celebrating their last night on the island, and their voices could be heard all the way outside as they sang together.

Ace was sitting at the bar surrounded by empty plates and mugs and sang along loudly. As they got to the quietest part of the song, he heard a soft womans voice standing out from the rowdy male ones. He turned his head and saw the beauty in her low-cut dress singing the words of the song with her eyes shut and a smile on her painted lips.

"Going to deliver Bink's sake today and tomorrow, our dreams through the night~." She opened her eyes and looked at him.  
"Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again." She leaned slightly towards him.  
"But don't look so down, for at night the moon will rise~." She leaned closer to him and he followed her movement. His head felt light from the liqour, the sound and the party around them was exiting and she was borderline hypnotising. Before he knew it a few hours had passed and they ended up in a rented room together.

"Nice to meet you, pirate." She mumbeled as her dress dropped to the floor.


	2. A late arrival

It was morning, and Ace was once again woken up by one of his comrades.

"Commander! Oiii! You have to get up! We're setting sail already!" The man banged on the door and shouted. Ace rubbed his eyes with one hand and the woman got up from his chest, which she had claimed as her resting spot after their late-night adventures. God damn, she was good.

Ace stayed in the bed long enough to enjoy the veiw of her getting dressed before getting up and pulling on his pants himself. Once he had finished she put her hands in his hair and kissed him.

"Are you coming or not? We're sort on time here, commander!" The man yelled from the other side of the door. The woman walked over and opened the door.  
"Oh he already has, thrice." She chuckeled as she walked away, and the young-looking, tall, brown man who did the waking turned bright red as he stared at her back, taking in what she just said.

Ace shrugged and the man snapped out of it.

"Commander seriously! We don't have any time to waste, the ship is leaving in but a few minutes! We don't have time for... For... Uuuuh god..." He blushed yet again. Ace twitched.  
"A few minutes?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" He yelled at the poor, and currently red-faced, young man.  
"I tried but you wouldn't come out! Besides it was pretty hard to find you, you know!"  
"Oh well, shit. We'd better run for it then!"

Ace set off down the hallways and the stairs, rushed out of the inn, without paying his bill ofcourse, and out on the street followed by the young man who could only barly keep up with the fire-fist's monster strenght and speed.

When they got there, the ship had already set sail started moving out from the harbor.

"Hey! There they are!" Vista yelled, leaned over the railing at the back of the ship along with several others of the Whitebeard crew. They all started shouting at the two late arrivals.

Ace grabbed a hold around his comrade's waist, quickly turned his own legs into fire and rocketed them both onto the deck.

They crashlanded and only barly missed Marco, who casually just turned to them and reached a hand out at Ace.

"You're late, yoi." Ace just laughed in response and took his hand. The grip was firm and warm, a strong familair tutch he realised he had accually missed.  
"You bastards, you never wait around do you." Now it was Marco's time to smile in reaction to what Ace said.  
"Yoi, that's just because we know you'll always make it, one way or another."

He pulled Ace up to his feet, and also hoisting him close to his own body in the process. He didn't let go of his hand and put his own free hand on Ace's shoulder. Ace blinked, not expecting this kind of action.

"Marco?" He tilted his head slightly, questioning and wondering.  
"Why were you so late anyway... Another midnight adventure with some local broad?" Marco asked, and for some reason, he had a sad tone in his voice. Ace furrowed his eyebrows.  
"What's up with you all of a sudden, Marco? Why do you seem so serious?"

Okay, now he just looked flat out hurt. What the hell was going on here? Ace understood Marco got worried for him, he did that all the time and he was used to it by now, but he had never seen this kind of reaction before. Not without ovious reasons, like if they got in a fight or something.

Also, this wasn't nearly the first time he had... Spent the night away from the crew... If you can call it that. He was both famous and good looking after all, there has always been an interest amongst the ladies for him. He was fully aware of this.

But never had Marco had any negative reaction to it, wait, was this even the reason why he was upset? Well, why would it be? How could it be? Marco was his best friend, his occasional wingman even.

Haha, silly Ace, there's no way Marco could be jealous or anything! Or... Wait. Hold your phones for a minute here...  
Yes! That must be it! Ah, how could he not have realised...!

"It was your girl wasn't it?!" Ace yelled out loud.

Marco stared at him.

"Wha-"  
"You were interested in her all along and then I... God, I am so sorry Marco." Ace looked into his friend's eyes, trying his best to put all his sincere remorse into it.  
"What are you talking about yoi? I don't even know who-"  
"Schh, say no more. I understand you need to put up a strong face infront of everyone, so if you can forgive me then let's talk about it later, okay?"

By now pretty much the entire Whitebeard crew was staring at the two of them, with their jaws dropped on the floor.

Marco pulled his jaw back in place, and his suprise was replaced by anger.

"Whatever yoi." With a vein popped in his forhead he turned around and walked away.

Ace turned around to the almost forgotten young man he might accually have killed in the previous crashlanding.  
"Anyways, kid, you okay?" He asked the smoking pile of rubble that used to be a wall to one of the upper cabins. The pile moved a little, and the lad crawled out.

"Yoshi." Ace said and prepared to his stephfather's scolding about being gentle with his brothers and more importantly getting onboard on time.


	3. Sticky situations

The day went on in a pretty casual manner, atleast by pirate-standard. The weather had been nice exept for the slime rain that had poured down on them at lunch time, they still hadn't been able to scrub half of it away and the Moby Dick was a mess, but other then that nothing of particular interest had happened.

Our hero in this story - Portgas D Ace the great comander of the second division had along with everyone else that weren't either captain or navigator had been temporarly demoted to cleaning in hopes of getting rid of the slime before they accually needed to do something important and fun like killing marines or eating dinner.

"God damn these stupid weather changes. I don't even get how slime can become rain in the first place!"  
"That's why you'll never get promoted to navigator."  
"Like they'd ever do that for you either! We can't even trust you into the armory without you wrecking something, let alone the whole damn ship!"  
"Well you can just-"  
"Where's Marco?" Ace interupted the two men scrubbing the deck next to him. They looked at eatchother before replying.

"I'm pretty sure he went to take a bath, last time I saw him he had slime litterly all over him, almost didn't recognise him."  
"Thanks." Ace said, and without delay he dropped the rag he was scrubbing with and dumped a bucket full of slime on the top of his head. Speechless, the two other men along with all the other crew members on deck stared at him whilst he walked away towards the large mens' bathrooms of the ship.

* * *

_Why did I have to act like that, yoi? I've always been able to keep my cool until now. I'm such an idiot._

Marco sighed and sank a little deeper into the hot water. He gazed up at the ceiling.

_It's lucky Ace can be so clueless about these things though. He get's so careless around his friends... He trusts me too much... Fuck, maybe it's not so lucky afterall._

The familiar piercing pain in his chest was coming back to him now, and he shut his eyes trying to push it back to where he could ignore it. Lost in his concentration and thought, he sank until his whole head was under the water.

* * *

_I'd better find him quickly and apologise again, I don't really get it but he really did seem hurt about it._

Ace scurried down the hallway to the baths, and once inside the changing rooms he litterly tossed his pants with belt, knife and all into one of the compartments attached to the walls. He then walked into the closest bathroom only to discover it was empty.

Just before he turned around to go into the next one, he noticed a shadow underneith the water.

* * *

_Ace... Can't I just tell him already? I don't want this to continue... I don't want him chasing girls and going to bed with strangers just because he's so handsome and strong and attractive and funny and smart and oh fuck me I'm such a loser, blabbering about him in my own head._

Surrounded by a warm, suffocating feeling the pain in his chest kept getting worse. His head swarmed with thoughts but they seemed to have slowed down. In fact, everything seemed to have slowed down. It was like he was swimming in an ocean of slime rain and there was no land, no ship, no island or anything for him to hold on to.

The image was accually pretty clear and easy to put together in his slowed mind.

He was naked and swimming in the slime, it was hard and it took forever to move forward in it. He saw the shadow of an island infront of him, he knew it was a very beautiful and pleasant island and he wanted to make it there so he kept swimming.

The island however, seemed to want something else. It kept floating away from him and practically stuck in the slime he could never gain enough speed to catch up with it. Desperatly, he raised his hand and reached towards it but that only meant he could no longer swim well enough to stay above the surface and he sank.

Deeper, deeper into the green slime he sank. The bright surface went futher and futher away from his reach and his lungs burned from the lack of oxygen.

Soon enough his whole body burned with them. Everything was on fire, the pain was indescribable and all his paniced brain could do was scream 'AIR AIR AIR!'. Instinctivly he opened his mouth to take a breath but all he got was water. Really warm, foul tasting water.

Wait, what happened to the slime? The adrenaline that pumped through his body had sped his brain up enough for him to almost wake up. Something strangely pink seemed to hover over him, and for some reason he had a feeling it was screaming at him. With a large push of willpower Marco opened his eyes completely.

"MARCO! MARCO FOR FUCKS SAKE WAKE UP!"

He blinked a couple of times, looking up at the pink face of the man holding him.

"A-Ace?" Marco managed to whisper before he started coughing like crazy. Ace turned him around so he could rest on his knees while coughing and/or throwing up all the water he had swallowed.

Still holding him firmly in place, Ace patted and rubbed his friend on the back in hopes to ease the coughing as much as possible. When it finally was over Marco leaned back against him, breathing heavily with his cheek against Ace's chest.

"Ace, what the fuck happened, yoi?" Marco gasped.  
"You nearly drowned you idiot! How could you possibly manage in a fucking tub is beond me, but you almost had it in the bag when I found you." Ace growled down at him, his face flushed a deep pink from the anger and steam combination.  
"I've always told you I'm a talented man, yoi..." Marco replied softly. Ace glared at him for a few more seconds before finally cracking up.


	4. Messing up

It took ages to get all the slime off his body, it only seemed to get stickier the longer you left it on and there was especially much stuck in his hair.

Atleast he got help with the task, Marco recovered really quickly being a phoenix and all. All he had to do was activate his zoan powers for a second or two and it was all good again.

Ace couldn't help but to glance at Marco in the mirror that hung on the wall along with the showers. Ace had always thought Marco looked his best in the bath, the wet look seemed to enhance the manlier parts of his body for some reason. Right now the water drops had faded into a glowing kind of moist as if he had been doing alot of movement for a while and gotten sweaty, his hair was mattened and his cheeks flushed.

Ofcourse he had never and never intended to tell him that, it was just another of the silly small things you notice when you spend alot of time with someone. Like, if they look good in a hat, or how they like their coffee in the mornings. Surely Marco had noticed a bunch of things like that about Ace aswell.

Well, atleast he might have. It's kind of hard for Ace to tell just how close they are sometimes. Every now and then his bestfriend feels so far away from him, almost as if Marco has been pulling himself away from him or something.

Oh well, best not to dwell on it. The important thing is that what went down earlier had been forgotten for now.

"I wish I still had some of my own shampoo left, yoi. It was way more effective then this stuff." Marco muttered as he rubbed the fourth helping of soap into Ace's scalp.  
"It's no big deal if we don't get it all out now, I can just go back and wash again later." Ace replied and scratched his neck. Marco sighed.  
"Nah, we might aswell get it over with. Besides, it might get even worse if you leave it in any longer."

Ace chuckeled and couldn't resist releasing the pervy joke that had popped up in his mind. He almost never did.  
"Sounds like an excuse to keep me here. I mean it's not every day you get me naked like this, after all!" Ace smirked at Marco's reflection in the mirror, awaiting a reaction. Marco met his eyes via the mirror.  
"What would you say if it was?"

* * *

_Well this is awkward._

He kept eyecontact with the reflection of the fellow infamous criminal he called friend and carefully watched his reaction. He had deliberatly used a more serious tone and expression then what would be expected.

He could feel the nervousity nib on the bottom of his gut as he awaited the response. He wanted Ace to notice it, but that was unlikly. If all else failes he could simply turn it all back into a joke and then go cry in a corner somewhere, because let us face it, even a bad ass like himself needs to get a fucking break sometimes.

"I'd be strangely okay with it."

Marco opened his eyes widely in suprise and at the same time he felt his blood rush to his face even more - like trying to keep down the heart beats from being so close to a butt naked Ace wasn't enough!

He suddenly felt more nervous and awkward then ever, and he could swear his already highly unstable pokerface was about to melt down completely. Got to think fast before he did something incredibly stupid like dance around singing that stupid pop-song he heard playing on the radio this morning and has been playing in his head ever since!

"Well that's convenient."

He wanted to sink to the bottom of the ocean and never come back up again. Then Ace started laughing.

"Oh man, this is why we get along so well!" He said and wiped a tear from his eye. "Nobody else plays along with me, like ever." He grinned and now Marco _really _wanted to die.  
"Hah... Yeah... I guess not, why would they, yoi." He squuezed out the words from behind his teeth. Ace raised an eyebrow.  
"Why not? I think it's hilarious." He said bluntly.

Okay, that was it. This was simply too much bullshit for Marco to handle. The much too familiar pain in his chest came back more instense then it had ever been before. It was just like that one time he got stabbed a bunch of times exept worse. This time he had no idea how to make it stop and no enemy whoms ass he could kick.

"Yeah you think it's funny don't you! Ofcourse you do when you can't even understand how shitty you're making others feel!" Marco stood up and yelled.  
"M-Marco? Wha-"  
"SHUT UP! Stop fucking with me won't you?! You're so blind and stupid and and... SHUT UP! IDIOT!" He turned around and sprinted out of the bath before Ace could reply or stop him. He kept on running in full speed until he reached his room, unlike Ace he had chosen to use the private room he got when he became a commander. He didn't even stop in the changing room to pick up his clothes and just ran all the way naked, causing quite the comotion on the way but he didn't care.

The tears were dripping down his cheeks and he had to push himself to even manage locking the door before sinking to the floor, sobbing.

* * *

What the ever loving fuck had he done?

Ace leaned against the railing at the very back of the ship, the same place were he and that other guy had made their spectacular entrance earlier. Ofcourse, the many skilled timbermen of the Whitebeard crew had fixed the damage they had caused in a matter of minutes and there was litterly no sign of the crash what so ever.

It had turned dark, but the many glittering stars and the big moon in the sky offered him no comfort nor did they keep out the tortured thoughts in his mind.

He had really gone over the line and done something terrible to Marco. Marco - his preacious comrade who hardly ever got upset about anything. He wanted to make it up to him so much, the only problem was he still could not completely grasp what it was he needed to make up for.

Clearly it was not that Marco had a thing for the girl Ace slept with, no that was out of the question by now. Was it because he had laughed at him? No, they laugh at eatch others shenanigans all the time without taking any offence, it's not like they were being serious or anything.

Wait... What if...

"MARCO WAS BEING SERIOUS?!" The few crewmembers that were still awake glared at him when Ace once again grabbed their attention by screaming at the top of his lungs and then rushing across the deck towards the mens' quaters.


	5. Still alive

"Marco?"

The pounding against the locked door of the room echoed through his head, it felt like someone was slamming a hammer against the inside of his forhead repeatedly.

_Go away, can't you tell I'm busy? _He wanted to say but the words remained inside his head. His throat was dry, his stomach clenced and his face swollen from the crying. He wiped his runny nose against the back of his hand. The pounding ceased, and instead he heard the voice of his best friend.

"Marco! Marco are you in there? Marco, I'm so sorry...Please open the door."

Without really knowing why, he got up on his feet to go open the door. He really should not, but after all he still wanted to see Ace, and for some reason he found it hard not to do as he said. He unlocked the door but stopped it from opening more then a crack so Ace wouldn't be able to see his red, teary face. He had atleast that much pride left and he would be damned before he let that go.

"What do you want?" Marco muttered as loud as his sore throat would allow him to.  
"Thank god, I found you." Ace sighed. "Look, I'm so sorry I'm such a fucking idiot I didn't even realise anything even though you're my best friend I-"  
"What do you want!?" Marco yelled, his voice breaking at the middle. "Give me a fucking answer, Ace!"

"I want my friend back." Ace swallowed. Marco leaned his head against the hard surface of the door. What a mess they had gotten into.  
"What makes you think you've lost me in the first place?" Marco answers softly, his voice was smooth but heavy with the pain still throbbing inside his chest.

There was a pause, giving Ace some time to let Marco's words sink in.

"...I'm so sorry. I really am an idiot after all." Ace sighed. On the other side of the door, Marco took a deep breath and opened the door slowly. The two men looked at eachother for a second, before Marco took another deep breath and opened his mouth.

"I should have just come out and done this a while ago, but it's better late then never I guess... I like you, Ace. Please go out with me!" He said and bowed.*

Ace's mind was completely blank. He had already figured out Marco might be in love with him, but he seriously had not expected THAT to come out of him! After a few, painful seconds he finally got a hold of himself, and started laughing.

"W-what's so funny?" Marco muttered whilst a large vein popped out on his forhead.  
"A-ahahahaha! What are you, a highschool student?!" Ace squeezed out between hurls of laughter. Marco felt as if his face had just self-combusted because holy shit did he blush like never before.  
"Y-you asshole! Try to take things seriously for once!" He blurted out. Ace's laugh finally faded away until it was a big, happy grin.

"Sure! If you want me, then make me fall in love with you, Marco!" He said and placed his hand on Marco's shoulder. His grin faded yet again to a gentle smile. "I won't resist, so give it all you've got won't you?"  
Marco had to fight back the tears yet again, but this time they were there because the pain in his chest had transformed into a warm, happy sensation and he was full of hope.

It felt truly wonderful to be alive.

* * *

_So that's the most powerful pirate clan in the world, huh. What an adorable ship they have. _The beautiful woman thought to herself as she observed the Moby Dick from a distance, standing on the deck of her own small boat. Her long, wavy hair was moving in the wind, poking her in the eyes as she lit up a cigarette and enjoyed the feeling of it's toxic spread in her lungs.

"This is going to be a truly interesting story..."

* * *

**_A/N: _****_In case anybody was wondering or felt a little confused I mark specific Japanese references with a [ * ]:_**

*The way Marco confesses is the typical and polite way to ask someone you like out in Japan. It can also be seen as a bit childish and cute, thus mostly seen amongst middle or highschool students, which is why Ace reacted the way he did.


	6. Nightmares and Loopy-whirls

A new, wonderful day begins as the sun rises and it's beautiful rays lights up the world yet again. The calm ocean sparkels, the waves move softly in the cool breeze, the vomit violently pouring out of the halfnaked man's mouth is making it's way down down the side of the ship and into the water... Hold on, I think we got a little ahead of ourselves here. Let us rewind a bit shall we?

* * *

... "I won't resist, so give it all you've got won't you?" Ace declared. He wasn't all too comfortable with the situation quite yet, but for Marco's sake he was more then willing to endure it and give it a try. After all, he had always considdered Marco an attractive fellow - though he would never admit it out loud.

So when it came down to it he decided to give Marco the same answer he had always given the girls who had come out and confessed to him, it only seemed fair:

_If you want me then make me fall in love with you. Give it all you've got and if you succeed then I'm all yours._

There was only one person who had managed so far and she was since long gone. Accually he had been the one trying to win her over, but that's a story of the past and he did not feel like thinking about that right now. What mattered at the moment was that he and Marco had made up, and he had accepted his best friend slash newest suitor's affection towards him.

"I'm not going to go easy on you, yoi. You're in for one hell of a ride." Marco said with an michevious grin. He did not quite manage to conceal how watery his eyes were, even less how red and puffy they already were from earlier.  
"Looking forward to it." Ace snickered and patted Marco's back before leaving him so they could finally get some sleep.

That night, Marco's dreams were full of joy, sunshine and some quite alot less innocent aspects. Meanwhile, Ace was having the worst nightmare of his entire life.

_Locked up in a dark cellar that seemed to sway and move the same way a ship does, he was desperatly trying to break loose from the chains around his wrists and ankles. The swaying seemed to get worse by the second and even though he had never been sea-sick in his life they were getting to him. His belly was suddenly wide open and his guts were spilling out on the dirty floor underneith him. He noticed that they were rainbow colored, and so was the blood that poured out from his wrists and ankles where the chains had cut into his flesh._

_Panic grew inside him until it was unbearable, he somehow broke loose from the chains and suddenly he was falling towards a dark ocean and his entire body was on fire. He instinctivly tried to use his logia power to create a boost that would stop his fall but nothing happened. He screamed and he hit the wat-_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH_" _He finally woke up, screaming as he sat straight up in his bed. He took a couple of fast, uneven breaths before he felt the strong nausea in his gut.  
"Commander! You alright?" His three room mates in the other bunks had woken up and were getting up to see what was going on with their superior screaming in his bed at 6:40 AM.

"I- I have to get out. Sorry!" Ace said and jumped out of his bunk, running out the door and up on deck. He leaned far over the railing and let yesterday's supper pour back out of his mouth. This was the first time he had been sick like this... In fact, he had been experiencing alot of things with his body that had never happened before lately.

His head hurt like crazy and the concentrated light from the sun rising right in front of him did not help one bit. His stomach finally setteled down and he could catch his breath again. The images from his dream were still perfectly clear inside his head.

When he was younger and still tormented by his feelings towards the father who abadoned him to that crazy old marine and the mountain bandits - and his mother whom he hardly ever even heard anything about - he had plenty of bad dreams so bad dreams wheren't unfamiliar to him. But ever since Luffy came into his life his mind and heart had healed up, and even more so once he joined the White Beards he felt at home and secure with pretty much everything in his life.

That said, he hadn't had any particulairly scary dreams for a long time and never anything with THIS effect on him. He groanded and leaned against the railing, elbows against the wood and head in his hands.

"Come on, what's the matter, yoi?" A soft, deep voice asked from behind it as it's owner placed a blanket over his bare shoulders.  
"Fuck... Just a bad dream. Keep moving. Nothing to see here." Ace muttered in responce, but took a hold of the blanket and wrapped it tighter around himself. Marco sighed and leaned over Ace from behind and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"W-whaa" Ace stuttered in his suprise over the sudden tutch.  
"You know you can always tell me, I'm your best pal, aren't I yoi?" He said softly and leaned his head towards Ace's shoulder.  
"Are you saying this kind of embrace is something friends do?" Ace replied, cheeks a bit flushed. Marco let his other arm join the first one, wrapping it around Ace's waist too. Ace could feel his body react to it, he was already recovering from the sudden illness and his heart was beating harder and faster then before.

"Not neccesary friends, but that's not the relationship I'm aiming for anymore, yoi. Is it?" He whispered into Ace's ear. Ace could feel other parts of his body react now. Holy shit this was bad, nobody had ever been this straightforward before. Maybe it was because Marco was the first male to come at him... The girls he met were usually much shyer...

Before he knew how to react Ace found himself face-to-face with Marco and his lips only seemed to come closer until-

_'DING DING DING DONG!' _The bell rang through the ship announcing that all crew members that lunch is served and they had better get their asses over there before they run out of food or they will have to go with empty stomachs until dinner. Yes, those are the accual words of the White Beard pirates' chef himself.

The two men stared blankly at eachother for a few more seconds before getting a grip and silently breaking the embrace.  
"Eww, you still have some vomit on your chin." Marco said and laughed. Ace stopped, used the blanket to wipe his face then tossed it at Marco before running away, starting to laugh himself.  
"Oh, gross! You jerk!" Marco shouted and chased after Ace.

* * *

_Oh fucking hell. I hate these god damned weather changes. I can't wait to get out of the New World and back to the Paradise. Ugh all this movement... I think I'm gonna be sick..._

* * *

That night a gumball tornado had came out of nowhere, followed by a loop-whirl storm and a furious seaquake. The ship was being tossed around like a rubber ball by the tall and powerful waves and it's a pretty damn big ship so it was nothing to take lightly. All of the crew members were busy working their hardest to keep their dear Moby Dick afloat and going the right direction.

"Yoi, how come we didn't avoid this one? You're usually so good at protecting them!" Marco shouted into the ear of the cheif navigator as he came back to make a quick report on the ship's steering mechanics. Not that Marco knew a single thing about mechanics, he just happened the be the one closest to the navigator when he needed someone to run and talk to the timbermen for him.  
"I'm sorry Commander Marco, I hit my head pretty badly after slipping in the bath the other day. Some idiot washed off slime in there after the slime rain and there was still some the cleaners hadn't gotten off the floor. Apperently that green goo reacts on water and gets even harder to remove." The navigator replied.  
"Oh." Marco blinked and looked away. "Well... Can't be helped then... Yoi."

He turned his head to get a good overlook of the situation on deck. It was getting pretty nasty. The loop-whirl-winds kept sweeping people off their feet, flinging them ten meters into the air or across the deck and into the masts or walls. The White Beards were a strong bunch of people though, it's not like something they would let something like this get them.

Just as Marco decided to help the guys securing some of the ropes on the front mast a hand something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. There was someone leaned dangerously far out from the railing - it was Ace. He ran over the instable deck and grabbed a hold of him just before an especially large wave hit the other side of the ship - tipping it.

For a second they were underwater but Marco managed to keep his hold of both Ace and the trusty and solid wood of the railing as the ship tipped back up on it's belly. He heaved them both back on deck and gave the railing a quick pat in apprechiation of the sturdy old ship.  
"Thanks ol' Moby, you'll always be my favorite whale." He pulled Ace up on his feet and shook him by the shoulders. "Yoi! Wake up numbnuts! This isn't an acceptable time for you to have your little sleep attacks!"

Ace wouldn't wake up however, so Marco picked him up and quickly carried him below decks towards the infirmary. As soon as they got inside Ace woke up however and Marco stopped.

"Where are we?" Ace mumbeled with a raspy voice, still groggy.  
"Where do you think, you idiot? The Moby Dick yoi. You passed out and nearly fell into the ocean and made me worry half to death about you by not waking up." Marco yelled into his face. Ace blinked slowly a couple of times before suddenly remembering.

"It was that... Hangover..."  
"Hangover?" Marco raised his eyebrows at Ace. He knew very well that Ace didn't get hangovers, nor had he even had any drink for days by now. Ace nodded.  
"Well, since we arrived to the last island... I go to sleep and then sometimes wake up with what I think is a hangover." Ace paused for a second. "My head hurts and I get so sick to my stomach I can't help but to throw up but it usually passes pretty quickly."  
"Ace, I'm no medic but I'm pretty certain that ain't a hangover yoi. I'm taking you to the infirmary."

Marco was just about to start walking again- still carrying Ace in his arms - when the wall behind them came crashing in. He turned around and swiftly avoided all the shattered pieces of wood that came flying in their direction.

Holy fucking shit. It was one of the masts that had fallen down and crushed the entrance between the open deck and the inside area. The paniced voices of the pirates outside reached the ears of Marco and Ace and Ace freed himself from Marco's arms to stand up by himself.

"Are everyone allright? Are there any wounded?" Their captain and adoptive father's powerful voice echoed all through the ship as it always did whenever he raised his voice. The mast was moved away, leaving a hole big enough for them to climb outside.  
"Pops! How the hell did this happen?!" Marco shouted to be heard over the strong wind. He had to duck to avoid a sudden loop-whirl from hitting him.  
"Marco, Ace, go grab as much rope as you can find from the storages. We're going to need to secure the masts so that no more of them go down - and to make sure this one doesn't roll all over the deck crushing people."  
"Roger, but Ace isn't-"  
"Leave it to us, pops!" Ace interupted Marco and dragged him back through the rubble and down the stairs.

They got to the closest storage room withing less than a minute. Marco kept complaining but Ace refused to be slacking off in the infirmary when his ship and comrades were at risk. He felt okay by now anyway. They tore through the crates and boxes and piled up all the ropes on the floor. In the middle of their work the ship suddenly cringed harder then before and Ace lost his footing for a split second. He tumbeled right into a wall.

"OOOW!" A woman had suddenly appeared underneith Ace, who instictivly jumped back on his feet. He and Marco exchanged quick looks. It was clear neither of them recognised this woman from the crew, so they wasted no time before tying her up.

* * *

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" The blond man asked.

"Uh, I'm the new... cleaning lady?" She tried with a faint smile. The blond man in front of her just kept staring at her with the same lazy glare as before.  
"I didn't know cleaning ladies carry cameras instead of cleaning supplies around with them, nor that they were invisable." Ace said. Ah, yes - 'Firefist' Portgas D Ace was someone she clearly remembered.

"We don't have any time to waste on you right now. I'll come back for you later so don't try to escape." Ace said and both men walked towards the exit with the ropes.  
"Oh I'm sure you will, darling." She chuckeled as they shut the door.


End file.
